MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 7 



off long tasks, I rather flagged in this depart- 

 ment of my education, and the margins of my 

 books, and every space of spare and blank paper, 

 became filled with various kinds of devices or 

 scenes I had met with ; and these were often 

 accompanied with wretched rhymes explanatory 

 of them. As soon as I filled all the blank 

 spaces in my books, I had recourse, at all spare 

 times, to the gravestones and the floor of the 

 church porch, with a bit of chalk, to give vent to 

 this propensity of mind of figuring whatever I had 

 seen. At that time I had never heard of the word 

 "drawing;" nor did I know of any other paintings 

 beside the king's arms in the church, and the signs 

 in Ovingham of the Black Bull, the White Horse, 

 the Salmon, and the Hounds and Hare. I always 

 thought I could make a far better hunting scene 

 than the latter : the others were beyond my hand. 

 I remember once of my master overlooking me 

 while I was very busy with my chalk in the porch, 

 and of his putting me very greatly to the blush by 

 ridiculing and calling me a conjuror. My father, 

 also, found a deal of fault for "misspending my 

 time in such idle pursuits ;" but my propensity for 

 drawing was so rooted that nothing could deter me 

 from persevering in it ; and many of my evenings 

 at home were spent in filling the flags of the floor 

 and the hearth-stone with my chalky designs.* 



After I had long scorched my face in this way, 

 a friend, in compassion, furnished me with some 

 paper upon which to execute my designs. Here I 



[* Bewick's first efforts might easily be paralleled from the lives of 

 other artists. Hogarth, too, freely ornamented his school-books; 

 Wilkie and Mulready practiced on floors and walls ; and Wright of 

 Derby sought inspiration from public-house signs.] 



